


Living with you

by ca_te



Category: Merlin (BBC)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Established Relationship, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-09-07
Updated: 2010-09-07
Packaged: 2017-10-11 14:04:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/113186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ca_te/pseuds/ca_te
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Written on 19 June 2010.</p>
    </blockquote>





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written on 19 June 2010.

It's been five years, we've had good and bad  
The ivy grows thick in our dark backyard  
When I shave in the morning, you don't recognize me  
I ask if you're still there and you answer "truly"  
Don't walk away and then turn and say "I love you anyway"

 

[Romantic comedy- Stars]

 

Arthur stands in front of the mirror in the bathroom, shaving himself, he bites his lower lip in concentration. Merlin has complained about how raspy his cheeks are again, and well Arthur would never admit that openly, but he wants Merlin to like everything about him.

"So you did it for real?"

Arthur doesn't turn, he can see Merlin's reflection in the mirror. The thin man is standing against the doorframe, his ebony hair still sticking up after the night. Arthur chuckles, thinking about the weird positions in which Merlin usually sleep, with his head under the pillow or his body twisted at such angles that Arthur sometimes wonders how he doesn't break.

"What are you laughing at now?"

Merlin is standing behind Arthur now, almost purring against his neck and the blond man shivers slightly.

"Hey careful, I'm trying to shave myself here"

Merlin laughs and leaves a kiss on Arthur's neck. Goosebumps blossom where his lips have touched the skin.

"'Lright. I'm going to prepare something for breakfast. Any wish?"

Arthur looks at Merlin's smile reflected in the mirror, he can feel warmth pooling inside of him and he definitely has an idea of what he wishes but there's no time for that now, they'll have time to play around tonight.

"Everything you want it's fine."

"Yes, sir!"

Merlin fakes a military salute and exits the bathroom. Soon after the muffled sounds of plates and mugs reach Arthur's ears.

 

It has been like this for a couple of years now. He and Merlin met when they were in college, it was at a party, Arthur's sister, Morgana, had presented a thin, black haired boy to him. Arthur remembers that he didn't give much importance to the boy at the beginning, he just spent the rest of the party hanging with his friends and drinking. But then, the morning after he had woken up with the image of the boy's blue eyes carved in his mind. It took off as a friendship, slow and unsure, because sure they seemed to fit well with each other, their sense of humour so similar and compatible, but they belonged to different worlds, and there were times when Arthur doubted that he could ever understand Merlin. Still before either of them could realize it properly they had crawled under each other's skin, and it just felt wrong not to be around each other. It had been Arthur to sum up the courage and to kiss Merlin for the first time. It had been a summer night, they were outside camping, it was their last year of college. Morgana, Lance and Gwen were sitting by the campfire gossiping, and he and Merlin were sitting on the grass a bit far from them, looking up at the stars. Merlin had always had a passion for studying the stars and the constellation, Arthur liked to listen to him talking about galaxies and black holes and supernovas, mainly because he liked the look that Merlin had in his eyes while he was talking about them. That night Arthur was trying hard not to stare at Merlin's lips though, it was something which had been bothering him for a while, the desire to reach out and tangle his fingers in Merlin's hair, or to kiss him. He had swallowed and Merlin had turned towards him, the fire light sliding over his cheekbones. Arthur felt something almost liquid inside of him and he leant forward, till his lips were touching Merlin's.

That had been their first kiss, there had been so many more after that, and still now sometimes Arthur can't believe how lucky he is.

After college they started to work, Merlin as a journalist for a little local newspaper and Arthur as a lawyer. They had rented two different flats, because they didn't feel like going to live together yet.

From then two years have passed, two years of them sleeping together almost every night even though each of them has his own house. Often Merlin stays at Arthur's all the day when he has a free day, or goes there to have lunch even when Arthur is at work.

Arthur finishes shaving and dries his face before padding his way to the kitchen.

Merlin is sitting at the table eating some toasted bread, he has filled two mugs with coffee.

"I've already added a spoon of sugar in yours."

He says, his words muffled by the bread.  
Arthur smiles and sits down; as Merlin says to him that maybe they could go to buy a new coffee machine, he thinks that maybe it's time to ask Merlin if he wants to start to live together.


	2. Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This part is mainly from Merlin's POV.

"You pick the curtains and I'll pick the sheets  
The silver anniversary will be the next time we meet  
I loved you before and I'll love you 'til then  
You're my foe and my brother and lover and friend."

[Romantic Comedy- Stars]

 

Merlin dresses himself as Arthur brushes his teeth. He has started to keep some of his clothes at Arthur's since when he understood that he felt well sharing a house, and not only a bed, with the other man. Arthur enters the room a loosen tie dangling around his neck. Merlin chuckles and reaches out to fix it. Arthur smiles at him and brushes his lips against the other man's ones. His lips taste of mint and Merlin licks them, smiling into the kiss.

"C'mon or you'll be late!"

Merlin jokingly slaps Arthur's ass.

"Oi, I'm the lawyer here!"

Merlin laughs as they walk along the corridor, he always accompanies Arthur to the door before he goes to work. He knows that it makes him look as a stupid housewife but he like the feels of Arthur's shoulders clad in the suit under his hands as he kisses him a good day, and the idea that they can set off for their days with a kiss and with the thought that they will see each other when they come back at home.

Home, someone said that home is where the heart is, and Merlin thinks that they are right, waking up beside Arthur, watching him alternate a yawn and a smile over the cup of coffee as they're having breakfast always make something vaporise inside of him, it makes him slightly light headed every time.

After Arthur has left he tidies up a bit before heading home, he has to take the tube to arrive there and to kill the time he snatches a book from Arthur's library. He often does that, and then usually he forgets the books at his place and doesn't bring them back. When they left college he rented a small flat, as Arthur did, but actually he has never spent much time in it. Only sometimes when he feels like being among his things, even though by now the majority of them are at Arthur's, or when he needs more concentration to write, but what makes him work better and with the smile on his lips is the idea that he is going to meet Arthur at night.

At the beginning he thought that maybe Arthur could be irritated because he used to hang around so much, in the end when they finished university they had decided not to live together, fearing that it would have been too much. Back then they had been together only for a year, and Merlin remembers well the anxiety that he had had at the idea that a cohabitation could shatter everything into pieces. And even if he had known Arthur only for a year his smiles, kisses and hands had easily become part of Merlin's life and he hadn't wanted to risk to lose them.

But now, after that two years have passed, he has seen the smile on Arthur's face when they wake up in the same bed, and he has noticed the way Arthur always tries to consult him over decisions about the house, like the new curtains or the new television. Every time that he does that Merlin feels all warm inside, he feels as if he knows that being by Arthur's side is exactly the place where he should be. Because it's as if Arthur can complete him, even when they argue, it's as if Arthur is his lover and best friend all together.

He arrives at his house and closes the door behind his back, he takes a deep breath. He prepares himself a cup of coffee and sits down in front of his laptop. The noises in his flat seem amplified, and it's weird not to be surrounded by Arthur's things and by his scent. Indeed it has been months since he last came here. As he types away his article he wonders if maybe is time to ask Arthur if he can move in with him, but still there's something which stops him, he is afraid to ask too much, to hope too much maybe.

When he goes back at Arthur's is almost dinner time, he takes out from his pocket the spare keys which Arthur gave him on his very first day in the apartment. He is surprised to find that the lights are on, usually Arthur is back from work later, and he has the time to prepare something for dinner. Instead Arthur is sitting at the kitchen table, a new coffee machine in front of him and one of his smiles on his lips.

"Hey there."

Merlin looks at him and then at the machine before reacting and leaning down to kiss the other man.

Arthur's lips are gentle against his, Arthur's hands cupping his cheeks, Merlin feels as if he is falling in love with him for the second time.

"So…why are you back home earlier?"

Merlin sits down in front of Arthur.

"Well I took the afternoon free and went around to buy things."

Merlin quirks an eyebrow.

"Things? What things?"

Arthur chuckles, then gets up and exists the room.

"Arthur?"

When the blond comes back he is holding a huge shop bag and hands it to Merlin, who just stares at it, trying to imagine what could be inside of it and what is possessing Arthur 'cause he has never liked to go shopping.

He opens it and takes out a set of red blankets.

"But what…"

Arthur leans forward him and looks at him in the eyes, Merlin takes in breath at the sight of all that azure.

"I thought that I could pick the sheets and you could pick the new curtains."

Merlin tilts his head to the side, hope bubbling inside of him. Arthur smiles.

"You sure are dumb sometimes."

"Hey!"

"I'm asking you to come to live here."

Merlin feels the bubble of hope explode, joy tingling inside of him, reaching every corner and he can't help to stand up and throw his arms around Arthur's neck, the new sheets falling on the ground.

Arthur encircles him with his arms, holding him close, kissing his cheek, his ear, his temple. His voice is gentle against the shell of Merlin's ear when he speaks.

"We were so dumb not to realise it earlier."

Merlin chuckles against Arthur's neck, before leaving a kiss on the soft skin. He takes a deep breath.

"I love you, you know that?"

Arthur hugs him even tighter.

"I love you too."

Merlin closes his eyes, feeling Arthur's heartbeat against the palm of his hand, the warmth of their house encircling them both.


End file.
